Family Ties
by Trelawney's Love Toy
Summary: Through an freak act of magic nineteen year old James and Lily end of sharing a cell after being captured by Death Eaters with none other than their Seventeen year old son Harry. He is certainly not what they would have expected a child of theirs to be.


I've had this idea stuck in my head for a while so I decided to take a few hours and type it up while I'm working on my other fics. Let me know what you think.

Family Ties

By

Trelawney's Love Toy

Chapter One

James Potter and Lily Evans sat dejectedly in the cramped stone box that served as their prison cell. It had been two days since their capture and thankfully they had been relatively left alone with exception of a number of Death Eaters coming by to taunt James. Despite the situation, James had to admit that he was flattered. Granted, he had been doing his part to fight Voldemort but to hear these Death Eaters rail on you would think they had captured Dumbledore himself.

They had been right outside the _Leaky Cauldron_ after a night at a muggle restaurant, where James had finally proposed, when they were ambushed by five Death Eaters. Seeing that they were outnumbered, and being slightly intoxicated, they decided that their best option was to escape rather than make a valiant, but ultimately foolish, stand. Unfortunately, just before their portkey activated, it was grazed by a cutting curse. Thankfully, it still worked and preformed just as it should. Sadly, the curse seemed to have thrown off their destination coordinates and they were dropped right in the middle of a Death Eater camp that was set up outside a rundown looking mansion. If the situation hadn't been so serious, James would have been laughing, instead he held it to a chuckle.

The two were pulled from their individual thoughts at the sound of a scuffle and muffled shouts. The recognized the voices of a few of the Death Eaters who made a point to stop by for a 'friendly' chat every now and then and the irritated tone of someone who was obviously their prisoner judging by what they were saying to each other. Instead of being frightened like most in this position would be, this person sounded pissed off. Moments later, the door to their cell was pulled open and two hulkish Death Eaters threw a young man to the ground where he landed with a grunt. A smaller wizard stepped around his two larger colleagues and glared down at him.

"My master will reward me greatly…"

"Spare me, Malfoy." The young man cut him off in a bored tone as he shifted into a more comfortable position on the floor, even going so far as to raise his hand as if inspecting his fingernails as he lay there. It was a simple act but it clearly annoyed Malfoy a great deal. "Why don't you run along now and play with your little friends. Oh, and while you're at it, why don't you send your wife down? It's been a while since I've seen her and she always enjoys my visits. Hell, an act of god can't wipe off that goofy grin she always has for a few days afterwards. I'm sad to say that you obviously aren't taking your husbandly duties seriously. Either that or you don't have much skill at pleasing a woman. Maybe you should try playing for the other team, maybe you'll be more comfortable with that. I'm sure you and McNair would do well together. You could spend evenings washing each others' hair and painting toenails. What fun."

"_CRUCIO" _James and Lily cringed involuntarily as the young man's body shook slightly at the force of the curse but they were over all very impressed with his ability to keep his body under control as well as keeping silent.

"Harry, Harry, Harry, you were always too mouthy for your own good. Trust me, we will discover who your new roommates truly are and then they will suffer alongside you." After craning his head back to look at the two behind him he turned back to Malfoy in confusion.

"What makes you think I give a damn who they are much less what you plan to do to them?" He asked curiously. While it was relatively dark he could still take in a few details and neither of them seemed like much and he certainly didn't see why he should care. "But seriously, Lucy, you and McNair should talk. Although, you may want to look into some lubricating charms. I understand that the first time could be rather unpleasant."

Malfoy chose not to answer, instead casting another Cruciatus, holding it for nearly a minute before slamming the door closed and leaving.

"PUSSIES!" _Harry_ shouted while trying to catch his breath. Lily was looking at him with concern while James was thinking that this kid must have the biggest balls he had ever seen. With a grunt, he pulled himself to his feet and looked out the little hole in the door for a minute before he began pacing back and forth. His two 'roommates' followed his movements back and forth for nearly half an hour before he stopped and looked at them.

"So, what are you in for?"

"Not much," James began in an off hand manner. "Bloody portkey crapped out and managed to drop us into a crowd of Death Eaters."

"Hmm, bad luck."

"You?"

"Pissed off the right people, slapped some Death Eaters around and one of their more intelligent hunter squads finally caught up with me."

"They sent a hunter squad after you?" Lily asked in surprise. Usually Voldemort only sent them after high profile political targets.

"Yup, Bellatrix 'tight ass' Lestrange and her team."

"Lestrange caught you?" Lily asked in surprise. Bellatrix was known for taking great pleasure in inflicting pain. The idea that she captured this boy and he seemed none the worse for ware was mind boggling.

"Tight ass?" James asked in amusement at the same time.

"Well, she may be an older, crazed psychopath but I certainly wouldn't kick her out of bed. And no, she didn't capture me. Her and her team were in various states of disrepair due to some, ah, safety measures, I placed when the Aurors arrived. I had the choice of staying with a dozen Aurors or taking the portkey Lestrange had on her. Time will tell if I made the right choice."

"You took Bellatrix's portkey?" James asked, trying to wrap his head around the thought of using a Death Eater's portkey. The chances of it leading to a safe location were almost nonexistent.

"Yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed searching her for it." Harry responded with a slight smirk.

"Why would you use an unknown portkey as opposed to sticking around after beating a group of Death Eaters?"

"I don't like Aurors."

"And yet you fight Death Eaters?"

"I don't like them either." Harry shrugged.

"Well, at least Lestrange and her bunch were captured." James conceded. At least something good happened in the last few days. Harry however was looking at him strangely.

"You are a naive sort, aren't you?"

"What do you mean by that?" He demanded hotly.

"Listen, with very few exceptions, Aurors come in two distinct varieties, corrupt or incompetent. On the rare occasion you get a rather humorous combination of the two. Either Lestrange will 'escape' before she reaches the Ministry holding cells or she'll be busted out long before she ever sees the inside of a courtroom. Aurors, and the Ministry in general, are a useless lot."

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore would disagree with you!" James stated tightly. He was in his second year at the Auror Academy and while there was the occasional 'bad apple', the vast majority were good witches and wizards.

"Oh, great, you're one of them! I don't know what's worse, having to listen to Lucius' pathetic blustering or being stuck in here with two of Dumbledore's toadies." Harry groaned before banging on the door, shouting for the guards to move him to another cell. Unfortunately, for him anyway, he was ignored.

"You might as well stop, while we can hear wants going on out there, they can't hear you." Lily spoke up, confused what he meant by _them_ and why he suddenly wanted to be moved.

"Well it's good to see your friend here isn't alone in his simple nature of thought. Let me explain a few simple details to you. While it is true that silencing wards are in place to prevent any Death Eaters with questionable loyalties from listening to whatever offers the prisoners might make for their freedom, only a fool would believe that they do not have monitoring charms in place. After all, when prisoners think about escaping, they are often stupid enough to talk about it with their fellow prisoners. While your standard Death Eater may be just as stupid as an Auror, Bellatrix is not, and she has over all command of this sight when her mudblood master is away. So you can bet that someone in this godforsaken building _is_ listening." James was glaring at him hotly, probably for any number of reasons while Lily seemed resigned, though looking at him curiously for calling Voldemort a mudblood. Obviously these two had had a few escape ideas and had discussed them, hence, their failure.

"I take it you're a pureblood?" Lily asked, lacking anything else to talk about but not really comfortable with silence. At Harry's confused looked she elaborated. "Usually its only purebloods that use the term mudblood."

"Nope, halfblood. I just use it to piss off the Death Eaters and their mudblood master. To them, there is no greater insult. Plus, in Voldemort's case it happens to be true. The big bad Dark Lord had a filthy muggle father." Snickering, Harry went back to the door to see how far down the corridor he could see through the hole.

"I'm Lily, by the way, and this here is James, who are you?" While it was fairly dark, she could still make out some details, and he seemed familiar.

"Oh, you don't recognize me!" He asked in an exaggerated pompous manner, standing as if he were some ridiculous politician posing for the Daily Prophet. "I am an honorary member of the International Dark Arts Defense League, Order of Merlin Second Class, winner of Teen Witch Weekly's Hottest Rebel of the Year Award, four years in a row now, Commander of the Diamondbacks, number one on Voldemort's hit list and number three on the Ministry's Most Wanted list, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Harry James Potter." He finished with a deep bow. James and Lily were looking at him dumbfounded, trying to make sense of what he was talking about. Finally, they caught his full name and gasped.

"Err… with that long list of credentials, I'm sure your mother must be grey by now?" Lily asked uncomfortably, hoping to see if this boy was somehow related to James.

"If she's grey, it certainly wasn't my doing, my parents have been dead for years."

"Oh, um, sorry."

"What do I care," He shrugged. "I never met them."

"What were their names?" James asked, trying, and failing, to sound casual.

"Don't know, don't really care to look into either. When I was younger Dumbledore tried to entice me into going to Hogwarts a few times with offers to tell me about them but I easily dodged him. These days he resorts to kidnapping attempts."

"What do you mean, why would Dumbledore want to kidnap you?" Lily asked quickly, know that James could easily blow up if someone slighted the old Headmaster.

"I'm guessing that the two of you are not exactly what one would call 'well informed'?" Harry asked while eyeing them critically. "Very well, Dumbledore, like Voldemort, has an overpowering need to control. It has never been any secret that he took his interest in me to unhealthy levels so when I declined the invitation to attend Hogwarts he came for me himself. So far, he's failed to get me. Aside from any interest in me personally, he also seems to feel that everyone deserves a second chance and if you kill a Death Eater during an attack, you are guilty of the unforgivable crime of robbing them of the chance to redeem themselves. The Death Eaters want me dead, as such I feel no obligation to ensure that they will survive should they attack me. To his way of thinking, I should be some poster boy, a hero that should give magical folk hope and fight Voldemort with my every breath. Well, he can take that idea and shove it up his wrinkled old ass. I'm not going to be his mindless drone and change my 'wicked' ways to be more inline with his ridiculous high moral standard." Suddenly, the lock on the door opened with click.

Harry was moving before the door even began to open. Spinning around to face the door, he lunged forward and thrust his arm out, spearing a Death Eater through the throat with sharpened piece of wood just as he opened the door. The other guard was so surprised by this action that he just stood there in shock until Harry hit him in the jaw and slammed his head into the wall. He was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

"About time!" He muttered as he searched the two bodies for anything useful. James and Lily crept out of the cell and looked down at the two Death Eaters in shock. Lily was looking a little pale at the sight of all the blood and James wasn't much better. Standing up, Harry turned to face them and blinked in surprise. If it wasn't for the fact that James had short hair and had that 'good boy' image thing going they could almost pass as twins.

"Alright, I've got a good twin!" Harry cheered.

"Um, shouldn't that be evil twin?" Lily asked uncomfortably.

"I'm certainly not a paragon of virtue so in the eyes of most people anything is an improvement so I'm the evil twin. So that's why Malfoy went on that spiel about finding out who you were, he thought you were me." He muttered to himself.

"Um, where did you get that?" Lily asked, looking a little green, as she pointed to his stick that was now dripping with blood.

"I had it on me. As I said, Death Eaters are just as stupid as Aurors, they rarely physically search someone and ordinary wood does not register on magical scans or react to disarming spells."

"Well, how did you know that someone was going to open the door?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you? Very well, as I told you already, they had monitoring charms in that cell. I called Voldemort a mudblood and any Death Eaters listening would have immediately come down here to torture me for speaking such blasphemy. Really, if you two are going to survive long you better start understanding a Death Eaters simple mind. Now, one cardinal rule, if you fall behind, you get left behind, it's as simple as that, so do try to keep up."

"You would really leave us here?"

"If it's a choice between me getting out by myself or all of us being captured again, you're damn right I would. Let's go."

"Shouldn't you give me one of those wands?" James asked stiffly causing Harry to turn back to him with an annoyed look.

"Do I know you? No. So can I trust in either you or your capabilities? Again, the answer is no." Without waiting to see James' reaction, Harry turned and quickly made his way down the corridor to a flight of steep steps that was closed off with a trap door. Taking one of his confiscated wands, he muttered a charm at the door with no results. Giving the wand a disgusted look, he snapped it in half before drawing the other.

Both James and Lily were seething. While they could understand a little paranoia, they did know 'Mad-eye' Moody after all, snapping a wand when it could have been used by someone else was simply ludicrous. Their lives were on the line as well, denying them the chance to defend themselves inside a Death Eater base was just plane stupid.

The charm worked the second time and Harry peered up through the now transparent door. Three Death Eaters stood on the floor above with wands pointed directly at the door, waiting for any movement.

"Step back!" Unsure of what he was going to do, neither objected to being ordered about and immediately did as they were told. A concussive curse splintered and blasted the door upward in chunks, blowing the Death Eaters off their feet. One had a piece of the door lodged in his chest, one took a stunning spell to the head but it was the third that really drew Harry's attention. His shouts as he tried to crawl away were very familiar.

"Peter Pettigrew." Harry announced happily as he quickly hit the man with a full body bind before stalking up to him and ripping his mask off. He looked down at the man's rat like features with a wicked smirk on his face. James and Lily had just come through the door and were looking at their friend in horror.

"Ok, it's clear we some how made it to the future but what he hell is going on and how far into the future are we?" James whispered fiercely, trying not to let Harry hear him. Lily just shook her head numbly, her eyes wide in shock.

"Under normal circumstances, Peter, I don't like to take a life needlessly but you have been a thorn in my side for far too long." Smirking at the fear in the man's eyes, Harry stood back up and pointed his wand at Peter's chest.

"Stop right there!" Harry turned his head slightly and found James holding one of the Death Eaters' wands on him. The slight raising of the eyebrow was all the warning he got as Harry crouched down, spun around three hundred and sixty degrees and lashed out with his own wand, snapping it towards James. A long black tendril of magic extended swiftly like a bullwhip, wrapping around his leg. With a strong jerk, Harry pulled his leg out from under him and James went crashing to the ground. Banishing his whip, a quick disarming spell relieved the older man of his wand.

"It would seem that my concerns regarding your abilities have proven to be justified. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure you will fit right in with the other Aurors upon your graduation." Seeing his _parents' _surprised looks brought a wide grin to his face. "You should try learning the art of Occlumency, Mr. Potter, you'll find that people can often gain much more information by simply looking into your mind instead of asking you a bunch of useless questions."

"You… You know who we are?" Lily stuttered.

"Of course, only an ignorant fool wouldn't know their parents' names when the _Daily Prophet_ gets some kind of perverted glee out of drudging them up every time they go on one of their Harry Potter smear campaigns." Harry watched their pasty white faces for only a fraction of a second before turning back around and making his way down the hall. From reading their minds, they figured out they were in the future but had been thinking that he was some cousin of James' or even a much younger brother. The idea that he was their son had never even entered into their thoughts. It was quite amusing.

Harry stopped beside Peter once again and while his two tagalongs were occupied with their own thoughts, he cast a curse that would stop his heart. The fear in the little rat's eyes was priceless. Without sparing him another glance, he continued on. James and Lily, who had the presence of mind to notice that he was leaving, and remembering his warning about falling behind, quickly jumped to their feet and ran to catch up. Neither could stomach looking down at the lifeless body of 'Wormtail'. James' thoughts were racing, thinking that he must have been working as a spy, either for Dumbledore or the Ministry. Lily however was rapidly reexamining everything she knew about him, all her old memories from Hogwarts, trying to make sense of it and she wasn't liking the conclusions she was reaching.

They turned a corner to find one Death Eater on the ground unmoving, thankfully, the rise and fall of his chest showed he was probably just unconscious, while Harry had his arm around another's neck from behind, cutting off his air supply as well as preventing him from crying out for help. A few moments later, the masked wizard's flailing arms ceased all movement and Harry quietly lowered him to the ground.

Not paying the other two any mind, Harry scanned the door on the opposite wall a few times for any traps or alarms. Each were numerous and it was a magical signature he recognized.

"Bellatrix, you foxy bitch." He muttered with a smile. The woman may be crazy but she was hot and she certainly knew her stuff. Deciding to forego the door, he stepped back and launched several reducto curses at the wall a few feet away, creating a hole big enough to step through.

"Let's go, every Death Eater in the house now knows something is going on so we have to get out fast." Not waiting for a reply, Harry jumped through the hole out onto the side lawn next to the servants entrance and ran as fast as he could towards the graveyard that was situated on the eastern edge of the property. James and Lily were having a hard time keeping up but when curses began flying over their heads they found the extra energy they needed to push themselves on.

As he began weaving through the numerous tombstones and crypts, they lost sight of Harry but found him again when he tackled them to the ground just before they crossed the last line of graves.

"Sorry about that." He said in an unapologetic tone as he pulled himself to his feet. "The ward line is just a few feet away so this is as far as we go on foot."

"What are you talking about?" James demanded loudly as he stood and helped Lily to her feet. "If we cross the wards we can apperate away."

"Yeah, you just try, hero." Came the mocking response. "But before you do, I should warn you that Voldemort himself placed them. Anyone not keyed into the wards will be gutted like a fish the moment they cross." It was really amusing how easily their complexion changed from green to white and back again.

"So how do we get out?"

"Portkey. I stole ol' Wormtail's wand and being in Tommy Boy's inner circle, he's authorized to create portkeys." A few moments after Harry began casting the portkey spells on a piece of broken tombstone, the Death Eaters began to catch up to them and curses were flying in their direction once again. Although he found the younger man to be arrogant, cold-blooded and sarcastic, James was impressed that Harry didn't let all the spells flying and headstones exploding rattle him. In fact, he almost didn't seem to notice them at all.

"Alright, grab on." As soon as all three were touching the piece of stone, they were whisked away and just as suddenly their feet slammed into the ground hard, causing all three to lose their footing.

"Could you have possibly made it any rougher?"

"If you wanted a smooth ride, smart ass, I'd like to have seen you cast all those spells in less than a minute." James merely grunted as he pulled himself up and looked around in surprise. They were in what appeared to be a high end nightclub. Everything was decorated in black and silver and polished to a mirror shine.

They had landed right next to the bar that ran the entire length of the wall. A large dance floor took up a large part of the right side of the room while dozens of four person tables took up the rest of the floor space. Along the left was an ornate stairwell that he could only assume led to a VIP area or maybe some offices, or both. He had been in quite a few clubs in his time but nothing this classy.

"You alright, boss? Heard you had some trouble." James' head snapped to the side and blinked several times as he took in the man that was standing up from a small table not but ten meters away. How in the hell had he failed to notice someone that large. He was just over seven feet tall and was probably easily four hundred pounds of solid muscle. With his size, shaved head and goatee, the tuxedo he wore did little to take away from his menacing presence.

"Yeah, Paul, I'm fine." Harry responded as he reached over the bar and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "And no, not really any trouble at all. Is the old man in?" He asked as he grabbed a few shot glasses.

"No, boss, he should be back soon though."

"Great, when he gets here can you send him upstairs? I picked up a few strays he may be interested in." Paul looked James and Lily over with in intense gaze before his eyes widened and he groaned.

"I hate magic." He muttered to himself as he walked back to his seat to finish reading his newspaper.

"Let's go upstairs while we wait for our guest to arrive." Not really knowing why, possibly from two days as prisoners or the shocks they had received in the last half hour, who knows, but they followed him without complaint.

Reaching the top of the stairs, James' assumptions were proven correct as the second floor was lined with a dozen comfortable booths that could seat several. Five doors were spaced at various points along the walls, two indicating that they were bathrooms the other three were marked with three different silver runes, none of which either of them recognized.

"Have a seat." Harry sat across from them and poured them each a shot of whiskey. While she wasn't a big drinker, Lily threw the shot back immediately. Coughing lightly, she grabbed the bottle herself and poured another. James was looking at her in surprise but if any situation could drive a person to drink, this was it.

"Um… so is that guy down there a muggle or a squib?" He asked for lack of anything else to say. Harry just looked at him as if that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. "He said he hated magic and that is something you hear a lot of squibs say." He explained.

"No, he isn't. He's a pureblood and is perfectly capable he just feels that magic seems to cause more problems that it solves. A sentiment that I happen to agree with." With a snap of his fingers, a house elf appeared at his side, looking up at him with something akin to adoration as she lightly hopped up and down on the balls of her feet. It was really a strange sight. House elves usually go out of their way to seem as insignificant as possible.

"Could you bring us an assortment of sandwiches and crisps? Thank you, Calli. Oh, also, can you get my wand from my office?"

"Yes, Master Harry."

"Err… you didn't have your wand when the Death Eaters attacked you?" James asked, wondering why anyone would go anywhere without their wand.

"I had a homing crystal fixed into the handle. Before I used Bellatrix's portkey I sent my wand back here and took hers." James nodded in understanding while Lily looked at the bottle of whiskey longingly before deciding against having another drink.

"So this is your club?"

"Yes, _The Silver Fang, _also serves as the headquarters for the Diamondbacks."

"You mentioned them earlier, are they your gang or something?" Lily asked, worrying that her son was some kind of mob boss.

"Some might call it a gang. In reality we are what the muggles call private contractors."

"MERCENARIES?"

"But you can't do that, its illegal!" James nearly shouted causing Harry to sneer at him in a manner reminiscent of Lucius Malfoy.

"If I remember correctly, the two of you joined Dumbledore's little militia as soon as you graduated Hogwarts."

"Well that's different…"

"No, it isn't. By Ministry law, any private organization that does work even remotely similar to that of the Aurors is illegal. Note that the Ministry conveniently forgets this law when its own high ranking officials or their contributors hire private bodyguards or investigators. Dumbledore's just pissed that we're much more affective that his merry band of bureaucrats and housewives."

"And how do you know that those bodyguards aren't Aurors on assignment?" A light smirk was the only answer Harry would give. The fact was that when it comes to personal protection or digging up dirt on someone they, oddly enough, come to him. Except Minister Fudge, of course. They've been waiting and hoping for someone to knock him off for a couple of years now.

Suddenly, Harry stood up with a wide grin on his face just as someone loudly squealed his name from the stairs. James and Lily turned their heads so fast they would probably be feeling the effects of whiplash rather soon.

A young woman, probably in her early to mid twenties with short black hair and rosy cheeks launched herself into Harry's arms and proceeded to kiss nearly every square centimeter of his face. Given his age and the fact that he wasn't bad looking, it didn't surprise them that he apparently had a girlfriend. What did surprise them was that the woman was wearing Auror robes. Having made his opinion of Aurors perfectly clear as well as his apparent disregard for what the Ministry would deem acceptable force where Death Eaters were concerned, having an Auror girlfriend was unexpected. After the young Auror seemed to get her fill of kisses, Harry picked her up before sitting back down, letting her rest in his lap.

"Well, this here is Auror He…"

"Former Auror." The woman corrected.

"Former?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Yeah, Fudge and Dumbledore tried to get me and Shacklebolt to arrest you on some trumped up charge and I refused to do it. They spent a few minutes threatening me with charges of aiding a known criminal when Director Bones stepped in and berated them for threatening her staff when the only evidence they had against you was circumstantial at best."

"I always liked her, it's a shame Fudge and Dumbledore have crippled the department playing their little games."

"Anyway, Dumbledore started going on and on about how disappointed he was in me and how, as a member of the Order, he could not allow me to question his orders. So I immediately quit the Order and told Director Bones that she would have my resignation in the morning. I have absolutely no intention of spending another day under the control of either of those incompetent buffoons." She huffed in annoyance before looking at Harry with a smile. "So, can I have a job?"

"Sure, I can put in a stage with a couple of brass poles, maybe get you a few little costumes. You know what, we can forget the stage and you can dance on the bar." A sharp slap across the face stopped that train of thought real quick. "Alright, alright. A couple of my boys want to break in and I was planning on adding one to each of Marcus' and Lisa's teams. Instead I'll just swap a few guys around from the other teams and form a new one with you in command. Let Marcus and Lisa train the babies. This way they can keep their teams the size that they're used to."

"What, you don't trust me to put them through the paces?" She pouted.

"No, I don't. I'd prefer that they remain in one piece. You don't exactly have the patience for people making mistakes. Plus I'd like you to have experienced people to watch your back. Now, back to the matter at hand. Tia, this is…" He got no farther as Tia turned to get a good look at the people sitting on the other side of the table and gasped.

"Uncle James, Aunt Lily?" She asked with wide eyes. "Harry, what the hell is going on? What are they doing here, HOW are they here, why do they look so young?" Harry finally had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop the questions as he looked back and forth between the couple and his girlfriend in confusion.

"This lovely young thing here is Hestia Jones. And I'm just dying to know how you know each other."

"Hes… Hestia?" Lily asked in shock as she stared at the woman across from her. "But, but she's only five?"

"And I'm not even born yet!" Harry reminded her with a raised eyebrow. "Do try to remember your situation. Now, Tia, as you have guessed, this is James Potter and Lily Evans. Through a freak occurrence with a portkey that I'm not even going to try to understand, they were somehow brought, by the looks of it, about twenty years into the future. I found them when Malfoy threw me into the same cell as them almost an hour ago." Hestia opened her mouth to demand when and how he had been captured but he promised to explain later before asking her how she was so familiar with them.

"Well, I already told you that I was born when my mother was in her sixth year. Lily was a couple of years behind her and volunteered to watch me when Madam Pomfrey couldn't. Anyway, even after mum graduated Lily would stop by during the summer to visit and then when she got together with James, he came to. After they left school they were around a lot more. They were pretty much like family to me and mum until, well, you know."

"And you didn't tell me this, because…"

"I thought it would be weird. So I asked the others that knew not to say anything either." Now how could he argue with that?

"Ok, now we have to figure out a way to send them home."

"We should contact Professor Dumbledore. He'll know what to do." James spoke up with certainty, causing Harry to snort and Hestia to giggle at the thought.

"I wouldn't trust that fool with this if my life depended on it and in a strange way, it does." The contempt in his voice was the final straw for James as he leapt to his feet in anger.

"How dare you speak of Professor Dumbledore like that! He is…"

"SIT DOWN!" Harry roared, his eyes glowing, eerily reminiscent of the killing curse. His magic had manifested itself around him in a visible aura power. They had only seen a display of raw magical power on a few occasions and altogether it was rather frightening. Instantly, James did as he was told. It took a few minutes, but Harry eventually got his temper under control and relaxed, helped along by Hestia clinging to him and whispering in his ear.

"Let me explain exactly who your precious messiah truly is!" Harry spat through clenched teeth. "And remember, these are all verifiable facts, not rumor, speculation or opinion.

"First off, James and Lily Potter, killed October 31, 1981. Voldemort had been after them, after you, for quite some time so Dumbledore suggested that you use the _Fidelius Charm. _A reasonable suggestion and you took it, appointing your good friend Sirius Black as Secret Keeper. After a short time you and Sirius realized that he was the obvious choice for such a task, making his capture a primary concern for Voldemort. Deciding on a little deception, you changed the duties of the Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew. Everyone would assume that Sirius was chosen and as such he would be the one targeted, keeping Pettigrew and the Secret safe.

"Unfortunately, the little rat was a Death Eater, Voldemort's spy inside the Order of the Phoenix. As soon as the switch was made, he went scurrying to his master with the information. Voldemort showed up in Godric's Hollow and killed the two of you before casting the killing curse on me. Through some freak accident, the curse bounced off my bloody forehead and hit Voldemort himself, destroying his body, leaving him as a mere spirit.

"When he couldn't find Pettigrew, Sirius knew something had gone wrong and arrived at your cottage just in time to see Hagrid pull me out of the wreckage. On Dumbledore's orders, Hagrid refused to hand me over to Sirius, my new rightful guardian, and instead took me to Hogwarts. Later, Sirius managed to track down the little rat but he managed to get away, blowing up the street, killing twelve muggles in the process, and scurried down a drainage pipe in his animagus form. The Aurors arrived to find Sirius at the scene, a street full of dead muggles and a finger that was identified as belonging to Pettigrew. He'd cut it off before he transformed. Smart move for an imbecile, don't you think?

"Sirius was immediately carted off to Azkaban. Pettigrew was thought to have died a hero confronting the man that betrayed his friends and was awarded the Order of Merlin First Class, posthumously, of course. The twenty four hours after my arrival at Hogwarts, Dumbledore spent placing numerous blocks on my magic and emotions. Including inhibitors to make me more pliable, more susceptible to suggestion. Those inhibitors were keyed to him and him alone. In essence, I would have had to follow any instruction that he gave me. Now, such a charm on an infant is rather ridiculous, I wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway. But growing up with that charm in place, it would grow stronger as I grew stronger.

"Now, from what I could tell, Dumbledore had not intended to leave Sirius in Azkaban. Since he was the one that cast the Fidelius Charm, he knew that Sirius was not the Secret Keeper and as such he may not have been responsible for what happened to all those muggles. His intention was to simply keep him in Azkaban and prevent him from being questioned long enough to have me placed with guardians he found to be more acceptable. He would allow a trial once all the paperwork was filed and all the legal loose ends were tied up, including forging your will, so that Sirius couldn't get custody even if he was found innocent.

"Unfortunately, the public outrage over Sirius' _betrayal_ of the Potters almost eclipsed the joy they felt at Voldemort's demise. Then Minister Bagnold felt that no trial was needed and immediately sentenced Sirius to life in Azkaban. Dumbledore chose to do nothing, leaving an innocent man to rot just so he could place me with someone of his choosing. And who were these loving guardians?

"Vernon and Petunia Dursley!" Lily gasped loudly as James' eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. "He justified this decision to those close to him by claiming that blood wards that he had placed would protect from any remaining Death Eaters as long as I lived with a blood relative. In reality, these wards helped to fortify the blocks he had already placed on me. Considering their disgust for anything they consider unnatural, I'm sure you can imagine that my childhood was not a good one. It came to a head when I was seven years old. I came home from school and their little brat, Dudley, couldn't wait to tell his parents that I did better on an exam then he did. He did this for one reason and one reason alone. Eclipsing their precious Diddy Duddikins in anything meant only one thing for me. Pain.

"I have a scar on my back from where my loving Aunt Petunia burned me with an iron for having the gall to do well in school. In that moment, all the pain I had suffered at their hands came bubbling to the surface and literally blasted away the blocks Dumbledore had placed and ignited the house. In confusion, anger and fear, I ran for my life. The Dursleys were not so lucky. All three of them died in the fire. Now we will skip forward, because to be quite frank, I don't want to discuss my life's story with complete strangers.

"Lets see, oh yes. 1991. What would have been my first year had I chosen to attend Hogwarts. Dumbledore had learned that Voldemort, or his spirit rather, had returned to Britain and he hoped to gain the Philosopher's Stone. I trust that you know what it is?"

"Yes, it was created by Nicholas Flammel in…"

"This is not a history class. I asked if you knew what it is, not the details of its existence." Harry cut Lily off sarcastically. "Voldemort hoped that by gaining the stone, he would be able to construct a new body. In his infinite wisdom, Dumbledore convinced Flammel to allow him to hide the stone in Hogwarts."

"Sounds reasonable." James commented.

"How is it that we come from the same gene pool? You're telling me that with a psychotic Dark Lord, who has no problem killing large groups of people, and will stop at nothing to gain this stone, the best plan you could come up with is hiding it in a school full of CHILDREN? I swear, you give a creature intelligence and they can reason. You give them magic and it comes at the cost of their common sense. Now, can I continue uninterrupted?" James just nodded dumbly.

"An object such as the Philosopher's Stone would require a certain level of protection with Voldemort after it. So what does Dumbledore do? He sets up a series of obstacles that I swear a group of first years could have overcome.

"First was one of Hagrid's little pets and anyone that has met the man could tell you that if you give him a couple of drinks, the fool would tell you anything you want to know. No real challenge there. Second stage, Devil's Snare, a minor inconvenience to anyone with a working mind. Next, you have a room full of keys, one of which will open the next door, following that, a giant chess board. You had to play your way across the room. And before you get your prize, you had to figure out a pathetic potions riddle, drink the right potion and then walk through a wall of fire. And now the final challenge. The Mirror of Erised. A Mirror that shows you your deepest desire. The stone was hidden inside. To get it, you had to want nothing more than the stone, but have no desire to use it. A clever bit of spell work, I admit. Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't take into account the fact that should the mirror be destroyed, the stone could be retrieved by anyone.

"And so Voldemort got the stone, regained his body and began his whole cycle of death and destruction over again. And here comes my favorite part. Dumbledore and the Ministry have been getting their collective asses handed to them ever since so naturally Dumbledore began looking for international support.

"1994. He arranges for the Quidditch World Cup to be held here in England as well as reinstates the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He does this to bring attention to the problems with Voldemort in the hopes that the rest of Europe will offer their support so that he doesn't have to actually ask for it.

"The World Cup was a disaster. Good game but the Death Eaters attacked, killing fourteen and injuring countless others. Instantly both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang tried to pull out of the Tri-Wizard Tournament but since all three parties had to agree to dissolve the contract they had no choice but to compete since Dumbledore refused to allow them to withdraw.

"The first two tasks in the Tournament proceeded as planned. Sadly the third task was not as successful. Bellatrix Lestrange, recently broken out of Azkaban, made it through Dumbledore's impenetrable defenses and slipped into the massive maze that would serve as the third task, placing portkey tags at strategic points. Within minutes of the task beginning, all three champions were portkeyed away right out from under Dumbledore's nose. Within an hour the mutilated bodies or Cedric Diggory, the Hogwarts Champion, and Victor Krum, the Durmstrang Champion, were portkeyed back onto the grounds. Luckily, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons is half Veela. She was able to use her charm to distract the Death Eaters enough to get away until she could apperate to safety.

"As a result of this cluster fuck, France and Germany immediately revoked all diplomatic ties with England and in the proceeding months, most of the rest of Europe followed. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons have also vowed to never again participate in another inter school function where Hogwarts is also involved and the Ministry is on the verge of collapse. The People are terrified and nothing is getting done. This is the world Dumbledore has created for us.

"His solution to his many blunders is exercising more control over the Ministry. Most are more than happy to let him do it. After all, if something happens, which it inevitably will, he will get the blame. The lone hold out is Amelia Bones, Director of Magical Law Enforcement. As a result, Dumbledore and Minister Fudge are doing all in their power to marginalize her. Cutting back her funding, restricting the number of new Aurors she can recruit and all but wiping out her training budget. So thanks to Dumbledore, you have about one hundred and thirty young, inexperienced and poorly trained Aurors against hundreds battle hardened Death Eaters. Whether they want to admit it or not, the Diamondbacks are the only opposition keeping the Death Eaters from advancing any further, yet to Dumbledore and Fudge, we are an enemy that is to be arrested and put under Ministry control by any means necessary.

"That is the reality! This fantasy world you seem content to live in where Dumbledore is all powerful and wise and works tirelessly for the good of mankind while thinking nothing of himself is nothing but a poorly written fairytale. He is a manipulative senile old bastard that has far outlived his usefulness." A couple of soft sniffles caught Harry's attention so he pulled his gaze from the shocked, almost catatonic expressions on his 'parents' faces and looked towards the stairs.

"I always love it when get riled up like that." The resent arrive spoke up softly with a fake hitch in his throat. "Tell us another story, won't you papa?"

"Kiss my ass. Come over here and welcome our guests." Harry replied with a smirk. Curiosity getting the better of him, the newcomer approached the table and looked down on the two for a moment before his eyes began to glaze over.

"Say hello to James Potter and Lily Evens!" A thump beside them broke the aforementioned couple out of their temporary shock and looked down towards the floor with wide eyes and open mouths at what appeared to be a much older Sirius Black.

"Hmm, didn't expect that." Harry commented to himself before taking his wand and casting a few charms.

"What are you doing?" Hestia asked in concern.

"Making sure he didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. Well I'll be damned. The little girl just fainted." Reaching down, he slapped his godfather across the face, hard. "Get up you pussy!" Sirius' eyes fluttered open and for a moment he just stared at the ceiling before shooting up and staring at James and Lily. They could see a great many emotions pass before his eyes before he turned around to Harry.

"EXPLAIN!"

Next chapter will be posted whenever I write it.

Chapter eight of 'To End All Wars' is nearly completed now and I hope to have it posted within the next week.

Chapter ten of Vanishing Illusions is about halfway finished and I'll start finishing it up once I post ch 8 of TEAW.

That's it for news right now. So, glad you took the time to read this, if you liked it or hated it, leave a review and give me your opinion.


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